The Board of Trustees approved plans to install a solar panel array on the Multipurpose Recreation Center’s (MRC) roof in the coming months. The panels will offset approximately 4 percent of the College’s annual grid-imported electricity, Executive Director of the Zilkha Center for the Environment Tanja Srebotnjak wrote in an email to the Record. 
The project follows last year’s installation of rooftop solar arrays on Wachenheim and Garfield. The College also intends to install solar panels at the boathouse on Lake Onota in Pittsfield, according to Srebotnjak. 
The solar panels on the MRC’s roof are expected to generate 870 megawatt-hours of electricity per year, equivalent to the annual average electricity consumption of 80 to 85 U.S. households. This will prevent approximately 426 metric tons of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere, Srebotnjak wrote.
According to Srebotnjak, the MRC was built to be solar-ready, with a large roof that gets plenty of sun exposure. “When it was determined that a solar array could be connected behind our main electric meter and in a timeline that aligns with the college’s electrical system upgrade, it became a prime candidate for our next investment in on-campus clean, renewable electricity generation,” she wrote. 
The College must begin construction on the solar array by July 4 to take advantage of the clean energy investment tax credit included in the Inflation Reduction Act, which was passed in 2022. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act, passed last summer, created the July 4 end date for tax credits on new wind and solar projects. 
Before the credit expires, the College will work with National Grid, an electric utility company, to connect the solar panel array to the electric grid. The College must also connect the array to the campus electrical system, according to Srebotnjak. The Board of Trustees voted in January to upgrade the campus electrical system to meet the College’s future electricity demands, President Maud S. Mandel wrote in a campus-wide email.
Work on the panel array will begin in the spring, according to Mandel.
After the array is connected to the grid, Srebotnjak wrote that the College will consider a wider agreement with the utility. “We have been discussing the possibility of developing a new interconnection agreement with the electric utility,” Srebotnjak wrote. “That will take time, effort and also entail a cost, so we want to make sure we have a robust plan ready when engaging with the utility on this.”
The College is working on a short timeline in order to meet the July 4 deadline, according to Srebotnjak. In order to secure the tax credit, the College will also need to comply with federal mandates that prohibit the use of materials produced by companies owned or controlled by certain sanctioned foreign governments, including China.
In addition to generating more of its own energy, the College aims to reduce its electricity consumption, according to Srebotnjak. “[We hope to] use less by becoming more efficient, use it in a way that keeps peak demand levels in check, and source more of it from low and zero-carbon energy sources,” she wrote.
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